How to Be More Carefree (12 tips from an easygoing traveler)

I’m a traveler and a musician and I have a confession: I’m hopelessly casual and struggle with seriousness.

So I thought I’d share a few insights on how to be more carefree (since it’s sort of my area of expertise).

And while carefreeness has plenty of perks, I do try to balance things as well. After all, some things do require a little more seriousness.

So let’s wrap up this chit chat and look at why a laid-back approach is an awesome way to embrace the lighter side of things.

Let’s get to it.

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What Does Being Carefree Mean? (examples)

Being carefree is living without the emotions of worry or stress. It’s the ability to be less impacted by things like anxiety or life curveballs.

Carefreeness is an ability, like a skill. And like any skill, it can be learned and harnessed. And thanks to the power of our minds and the science of neuroplasticity, anyone can get better at it.

So let’s keep moving and look at some of my favorite benefits to living a more carefree life.

The Benefits of Being More Carefree

There are times for seriousness. Of course.

But some of my best memories are moments of laughter and accepting things as they come (with a happy-go-lucky “well, f*ck it…” battle cry).

It’s a great balance to have in life. So here are some awesome benefits I feel with being carefree:

Less stress
Less self-imposed pressure
More clarity in thinking
More present moment awareness and relaxation
A more optimistic view of things
Better at divergent thinking
More creativity
Greater objectivity
More patience
It’s just more fun

How to Be More Carefree (12 tips)

On to the good stuff.

The tips below are my top moves for staying carefree. Well, they’re at least the things that I notice help me in my life.

So I hope these ideas help you as well.

Enjoy :)

1. Focus On the Journey

Let’s kick things off with one of my favorite moves: just enjoying the ride.

Focusing on the journey is all about becoming process-oriented.

It’s easier to stay carefree this way, because smaller actions and meeting daily micro goals is way less stressful than aiming straight for the top of some mountain.

So here are some tips for strengthening your focus on the journey (a lot of these ideas we’ll be digging deeper on below):

Develop different habits
Practice failing – fall in love with failing
Be specific
Focus on the micro (not the macro)
Stay patient
Celebrate small wins
Zoom out every once in a while

2. Recognize the Perfectionism Trap

As a musician, I can tell you that perfectionism destroys my confidence, creativity and happiness.

It’s the quickest way out of a carefree state of mind.

So the best advice I have for this one is to first become aware of any perfectionistic tendencies.

Then, you can address these moments head on by developing new patterns of thinking. Because after all, perfection is an illusion and robs us of our present moment enjoyment.

Perfectionism is an obsession with something unrealistic and inevitably leads to stress and anxiety.

Long story short, it destroys the carefree attitude.

3. Start A Meditation Routine

I recently started meditating. And it’s changed everything for me.

To be honest, I didn’t think I could get any more casual, but I was wrong. Meditation gave me a great grasp on letting go, detachment and enjoying the present moment.

All of these are now assets to my state of being. And all of these things have further solidified my carefree personality.

Meditation is a fantastic modern life tool to practice. I do it daily for at least 30 minutes, but don’t stress too much about time or frequency in the beginning.

Just try some different mediation methods out and have fun with it, until you find one(s) that click for you.

4. Practice Gratitude

Gratitude truly helps me reprioritize what’s important.

And It’s a fantastic shortcut to being more carefree. Practicing appreciation has this way of shrinking my problems.

Moments of stress, frustration or anxiety – no matter how carefree we get – are inevitable. But it’s all about how long they take hold.

So whenever I slip into some type of negativity, I practice gratitude for what I have (namely, health, wellness, family, friends and myself).

The result is always a reset back to my carefree baseline.

5. Develop A Growth Mindset

Having a growth mindset is the talk of the town, so to speak.

But for good reason. It boasts a ton of benefits, one of them being a more carefree perspective on things.

A growth mindset views challenge as opportunity and holds that belief that any skill can be learned and any weakness or issue strengthened or resolved.

It’s a great way to be. It lessens the stress of thinking things (or ourselves) are fixed – because we’re not.

So developing a growth mindset is a great way to be more carefree.

6. Aim Lower (do less)

I love this one. To be more carefree, just aim lower and take on less.

But it’s not being lazy – it’s actually strategic and smart. Here’s why.

Aiming high is great, don’t get me wrong (I definitely have big goals for my future dream life). But, as I mentioned earlier, big goals can sometimes lead to stress and anxiety.

So aiming lower is really all about breaking down those bigger goals into their component pieces. It’s about working backwards.

I like to use this framework for breaking things down:

Identify my main macro goal

Break it down into the main micro goals required to meet it

Break each micro goal down further into required nano goals, or tasks to be completed

Once you’ve reverse engineered your goals, you’ll have a clearer path forward and one that’s way less stressful and much easier to chip away at.

You’ll be way more carefree.

7. Adjust Your Time Horizons

This one is a perfect follow up to aiming lower – time horizons, let’s talk about them.

Another thing that destroys my carefree-ness (carefreeness?) is pressure.

Pressure to be better. Pressure to do more – more quickly. Under pressure (dah na na nanana na).

I suppose a lot of this is probably just self-imposed and imagined pressure. But that doesn’t make it any less real.

But the pressure to do more and be quicker circles back to timelines and horizons. I mean, there’s a lot of extra things and mantras society says we should be following.

Take massive action and do it now. Post daily on your socials. Create more content. The early bird gets the worm, or whatever.

Well, that’s all fine – and strategically makes sense – but what if we just, chill for a minute?

What if we do all that, but at our own pace. What if we adjust our time horizons?

Success, however you define it, usually takes a long time. But attaching our results to unrealistic deadlines is not helpful for a carefree life.

So try adjusting your time horizons – it’s subtle, but may be all you need.

8. Become A Minimalist

Minimalism is a great way to become more carefree in life.

A minimalist life is one that prioritizes simplicity, practicality and keeping things that only add value or serve a personal purpose for you.

To adopt a more minimal lifestyle, you can start small. For example, cleaning up your phone’s home screen or redesigning your home to be more modern and functional.

Actually, nearly every part of life can adopt a minimalist’s philosophy. From learning how to say less when we speak to minimizing our digital habits, a simpler life means less worry and concern.

And less worry means you’re more carefree.

Recommended: How to Be More Minimalist In Life

9. Go Traveling

Traveling – especially solo traveling – has a funny way of humbling you.

It forces us to let go and accept things as they are. Many aspects of traveling are simply outside of our control (more on that point in the next tip).

So if you’re feeling like an adventure, then open-ended travel is an aweomse way to practice a carefree lifestyle. Traveling gives you an ability to let go more and simply enjoy the ride.

While travel can definitely create a lot of stress and discomfort, it also forces you to deal with it.

So when we return to our “normal” lives, where things are generally more predictable and stable, our baseline is reset.

We’re more resilient and we’re more carefree. Mission accomplished.

Recommended: How to Travel More In Life

10. Go With the Flow (stop trying to control)

I’m not singling anyone out here – we’re all guilty of trying to control things, definitely myself included.

It’s all about just becoming aware of this reality and recognizing it in the moment – then putting the breaks on it in real time.

Eventually, it becomes a sort of conscious habit, and eventually you get quite good at it.

Eventually, you learn to just go with the flow more naturally. Eventually, you become more carefree.

Here are some tips to practice going with the flow more:

Have backup plans and alternative options for when things don’t work out
Don’t get too attached to any one strategy, path forward or outcome
Laugh more
Find things that put you in a flow state (the “zone”) and do them more
Go easy on yourself
Make time to do more of what you love

11. Stack the Deck (+ have backup plans)

Stacking the deck in our favor is a powerful move – especially for creating a more carefree life.

For this context, stacking the cards means creating an internal and external environment that supports our carefree objectives.

For example, planning ahead and having backup plans if things go wrong can eliminate the stress of the unknown or the frustration of things not going as planned.

Besides this backup planning, we can also stack our deck (to support a more carefree life) in four key areas:

Your inner circle

Who do you spend the most time with? Do they make you stressed, or worry less?

Your outer circle

What content do you consume? Do the books you read, the news you watch and the social media you follow make you more carefree or anxious?

Your environment

What’s the vibe of your home, room and main space? Is it supporting that carefree objective?

Yourself

Self care is essential for stress reduction, motivation, discipline and so much more
So meditate, have a massage, get good sleep and eat foods that agree with your body – do what you need to take care of yourself

12. Creative Escape

Creativity is my whole schtick. So I guess no list would be complete without me at least mentioning it.

Luckily, it can be another great way to become more carefree.

Creativity is meditative, self-expressive and cathartic. And it’s fun.

All of these benefits are solid reasons for why creativity is helpful for a carefree lifestyle.

But really, you don’t need a reason to create. It’s just a human thing that we can use as a hobby for de-stressing or as an outlet for releasing emotions or anxieties.

Being creative is actually pretty easy – because there are no right or wrong ways to go about it. It’s just whatever feels right.

Here are some creative outlets to become more carefree:

Writing

For example, journaling, starting a blog or writing short stories for fun

Art

Painting, drawing or making handmade crafts are great options

Music

You can learn an instrument or even use modern tools and technology (like AI for creativity) to create melodic projects

Design

Maybe I’m a total geek here, but designing and tinkering with my website design and layout is seriously fun – its’ creative and rewarding
(you can blend this idea with the starting a blog tip above)